(This is written to be spoiler free, but proceed at your own risk)
I know a number of people (including myself) who may experience familial tragedies and seemingly fail to bat an eye, but will go on for days about crying at the end of Clannad.
(Though who the fuck could blame them?)
To start, I can at least speak for myself.
There's generally a really strong correlation between an anime's Myanimelist rating, and how much it will elicit an emotional response from me, since really good anime tend to get the drama down pat.
Good anime, with good drama (even anime that aren't exclusively drama based), draw you into the story. Heck, they make you forget it's just a story all together. Instead it makes you feel like you're there, with the characters, sharing in the triumphs, and all the pain.
Bad anime will make you sit there and wonder why your watching it. Unable to get absorbed into the characters, you fail to buy in, and ultimately just don't give a shit.
(Pic oh, so related...though I do realize you could replace this picture with any other generic harem that plagues every season)
So assuming we have a good anime, the process for me goes something like this:
There has to be decent buildup. I can't ever start to feel really sad within the first few episodes, since by then I haven't really subconsciously bought into the show itself.
However, pretty soon I'll start to literally feel chills, which I guess one could call physical manifestation of my feels.
(Oh god, Menma pls stahp, your gonna get me started...)
Even as I write this blog, and dig through my hard drive for some good "feels" anime, I get chills. Literal reverberations from my past emotions, tied like a knot to all the shows I've seen. You could say they've all become a little piece of me.
In a way, they're like parts of my life that though I wasn't physically there, my mind and self were. I lived the anime through the characters.
So I'll often get these shivers during shows. Usually they happen when someone dies, someone cries, someone sacrifices themselves for another, or simply, when something really sad happens...a great turning point or a great twist (all already being features of great or amazing anime).
(Pic related, and also brought to you by Pizza Hut)
And when a major turning point or death happens, my feels bubble up. I start to shiver like crazy, and all of a sudden, I feel something roll down my cheek, and eventually, I just start crying.
Usually it has to be pretty damn major, and I have to really care about the character, but there are just some shows, like Clannad and Chunnibyo, where at major turning points, I would be crying through whole episodes.
Something about really good dramas just gets me. And even though I'm sad and crying, it feels great and very therapeutic.
And that connection to those scenes never dissipates. There have been times where I just feel like crying or getting that "shiver" feeling, so I just watch a Clannad or Angel Beats! AMV. It doesn't even have to be good; just seeing those scenes again triggers that same attached emotion of sadness that caused me to cry in the first place.
(Angel Beats! had a convenient tear counter on-screen)
So if people don't get why you cry, I would just say, anime is pretty powerful stuff. I haven't cried during a single movie or other piece of media. Family tragedies may make me feel sad or depressed, but I simply can't get myself built up emotionally enough to start shedding tears.
The reason I believe this happens is that (some, particularly good and well-thought out) anime is designed in a way to be emotional; its literally engineered to make you cry and pull at your heartstrings. While this may be true of most any other drama in any other medium, anime is simply different. You often hear about a show by browsing online or talking to a friend, and get excited to watch it. You may pore through reviews or ask for recommendations on any of the many major anime sites. Then you sit and watch it. While most movies or even games will last just a few hours, a good amount of anime will take 10+ hours to watch. You become throughly invested in it, not just emotionally, but with the time you spent just watching it. And finally, after all those feels, a great, well-timed twist or unfortunate death or demise is enough to draw out the waterworks. I think its a pretty amazing process that truly is unique to anime. There just simply isn't anything like it.
With shows like Clannad, Welcome to the NHK!, or Chuunibyo, (or again, any good drama anime) the emotional high/turning points are made in such a way, with particular music, writing, timing, and art, that they just hit you hard and quick with a sea of sadness and emotion (or even happiness, though I have yet to cry tears of joy at an anime. Japan must be one really depressed country.)
While the list of shows that made me cry constantly like a little bitch, and still make me cry when I think about them, is relatively short...
(Yeah the stupid Clannad soundtrack still makes me cry too...I've unshamelessly skipped it in my shuffle more times than I can count)
...theres a large number of shows that are just of their own special case. Alot of slice of life shows, especially K-ON!, have no major twists or turns to elicit much of an emotional response. But hell, if those closing ceremonies aren't sad. But they're sad in a very melancholy way: its almost as if you spent all those days in the clubroom with those characters, enjoying yourself and your youth over a few cakes and tea. And just like yours and their school days, it has to come to an inevitable, but equally sad and unfortunate, end. Your youth is over, and you all most go your separate ways. For that reason, I did shed a few seemingly unorthodox tears the last time I saw Mio, Yui, Ritsu & Mugi step out of that club room, to leave it behind to Azusa, and the friends she had made along the way. It truly is a nostalgic and bittersweet feeling, and one that sticks with you all the same.
(I'm pretty sure we all secretly wished to be in a Light Music Club....though I would be willing to settle with just being in an all girl's school)
And finally you have a show like Fullmetal Alchemist (not Brotherhood, I haven't been blessed with space on my hard drive yet). I can't remember crying during a single particular scene in the show (except maybe the Ishval arc). However, at the very, very, end of the show, as the Elric Brothers faced the sad but certain reality of their situation, a single manly tear slowly made its way down my face. I like to think Alex Louis Armstrong would be proud.
("You didn't cry? Guess I'll just have to force the feels into you!")
It feels like you just went on that same, long journey with the Elric Brothers, met the same zany characters and learned those same lessons of life... and now the long, laborious trek has finally reached an end, for better or for worse. The whole crazy ride is over, and life must go on.
So in closing, why does anime make me cry? Because a great anime is perfectly engineered to do so. It's because I can experience an emotional roller coaster like no other, that makes me feel alive, that I love anime.
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